39 Sites: Monitoring
A formal KBA monitoring protocol is under currently under development.
39.1 Why monitor sites?
Informs the pressures taking place at key sites for biodiversity, the status of the qualifying species, and any actions being implemented to alleviate the impacts of pressures.
Helps identify priority sites for action, prioritise conservation actions within them, determine the effectiveness of interventions
The outputs can be used to hold governments to account, to inform policy, influence donors and decision-makers.
They also form the basis of a range of indicators for reporting to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and other policy fora and global/regional/thematic assessments (e.g. Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO), Group on Earth Observations (GEO), Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) etc), and inform global and regional-scale advocacy and communications.
39.2 What does the KBA monitoring protocol entail?
The goal of the KBA monitoring protocol is to gather information on three main things:
STATE: The abundance of trigger species, extent of trigger ecosystem types, or degree of ecological integrity within the site relative to a benchmark.
PRESSURE: The impacts of threats that are affecting or have the potential to affect trigger species, ecosystem types or ecological integrity, including information about the timing, scope and severity of impacts.
RESPONSE: Response indicators identify and track conservation actions: for example, changes in conservation designation to a site, implementation of conservation projects, and establishment of Local Conservation Groups.